Mikael (The Vampire Diaries)
Mikael is the father of the Originals, the most powerful out of them all, and among the very few feared by his children. Background Early Life Mikael was a Viking warrior born to the kingdom of Norway. Having been trained by his father extensively, Mikael came to became one of the finest warriors in his village. During a raid on a village, he met a witch named Esther, and the two fell in love. They married and were wealthy landowners. They tried to start a family but to no avail, as Esther believed she was cursed and went to her sister for help. Unknown to Mikael, Esther's sister Dahlia put a spell on her so she could have children but there would be sacrifices. They then started a family with the birth of their children Freya and Finn. He was a loving and caring father for both of his children, but his favorite was his beloved daughter. Mikael named his Viking sword Rathul, after the early morning sun. Its hilt was golden, like the color of Freya's hair. He had said it would remind him of her while he was in battle, and that she would be by his side no matter how far afield he traveled. Some time later, Esther was pregnant with their son Elijah. Years had passed, and the night before Mikael left for war, he christened his sword with goat's blood. When Freya awoke, he was no longer there as he had gone out to war. A plague hit Europe, and Esther claimed it killed Freya while Mikael was in battle; in reality, Freya was taken as the payment of a magical bargain Esther made with her sister Dahlia, to cure her of her infertility. Desperate to escape their homeland, Esther turned to her witch friend and mentor, Ayana, who told her of a land beyond the seas where the natives were all healthy and blessed with the gifts of speed and strength. At this point, Mikael became a more strict father, becoming more cruel in teaching his children to survive, so he would not lose anymore children like he thought he lost Freya. Mikael, Esther, Ayana and other (possibly Viking) settlers left Norway for the New World (later known as North America), settling in the area now known as Mystic Falls in the present day. However, the New World wasn't as peaceful as the couple had expected, especially during the full moon, as their neighbors were werewolves. They lived in peace with their neighbors at first, hiding in caves during the wolves' transformations, during which time Mikael and Esther had more children: Niklaus, Kol, Rebekah and Henrik. Once, as kids, Elijah took Niklaus into the woods to teach him how to hunt. Elijah encouraged his brother, stating that his aim was improving when he misses a shot at a doe. However, Mikael soon arrived and scolded Elijah for encouraging his brother, snatching the bow from Niklaus and stating that he wasn't man enough to hold a weapon. Niklaus tried to apologize, but Mikael saw him as a weakling and starts severely beating him, using the justification that his punishments would make Niklaus stronger. Elijah tried to stop his father from hurting his brother, but was scared off by Mikael, who stated that Elijah would be next if he intervened. He once beat Niklaus half to death as a boy because he was so sure that Niklaus had taken his blades, unaware that it was actually Rebekah who had taken them. One day, Mikael caught Klaus carving chess pieces with his hunting knife, and Mikael whipped and beat Klaus half to death. Klaus was beaten so badly his siblings actually feared he would die. Elijah entered the room and tried to stop his father, but he pushed Elijah away and continued to punish Klaus until Rebekah eventually ran in with his sword and pointed it at him. Mikael became furious and grabbed his sword from her before leaving the room. Then, one night, Rebekah, who had enough of Mikael's abuse toward Klaus, took a knife with the intention of killing her father while he slept, but Elijah ultimately stopped her; however, he later admitted that he wished he had done the deed himself, wishing he could go back to that moment. One day, while Elijah and Klaus were sparring, Mikael watched them. Mikael was enraged that Klaus was showing off and being foolish when the Vikings were fighting for their survival. Once they were done, he came to Elijah for his sword and then attacked Klaus and humiliated him in front of the village. He then wondered aloud how Klaus was able to remain alive due to his impulsive and foolish behavior. At some point, Niklaus challenged Mikael to a duel, which Mikael initially won. However, when Mikael cut Klaus' starling necklace (which was meant to weaken him to prevent him from triggering his werewolf curse), Klaus became so enraged that he attacked Mikael, Mikael was so furious that Klaus had gained the upper hand, that he impaled Klaus' shoulder with his sword and pinned him to a tree in his blind rage. Curious about the werewolves' transformations, Klaus and Henrik went to spy on them one night during a full moon. Unfortunately, their presence was ultimately discovered by the werewolves, who were unable to control themselves and ended up mauling Henrik to death. Overwhelmed by the loss of another child, Mikael and Esther were desperate to cast a spell that would protect the family from more deaths. After Ayana refused to help them, citing the fact that the Spirits and Nature itself would not stand for such an imbalance, Mikael begged his wife Esther to do something using her powers as a witch. Esther obeyed Mikael's wishes and performed a variation of the Immortality Spell created by Qetsiyah, which involved calling upon the sun for life and the eternal white oak tree for immortality, and also added traits like super strength, super speed, fangs, and heightened senses that would all be superior to werewolf powers, so his family could fight back against the beasts that mauled his youngest son to death. He then offered his children wine laced with the doppelgänger Tatia's enchanted blood (as revealed in Bringing Out The Dead) and killed them soon after by driving his sword through their hearts. The Spirits of Nature, in order to try to maintain the balance, turned nature against them; the sun became their enemy, the flowers that grew at the base of the white oak tree, vervain, caused them pain upon contact and prevented compulsion, and the white oak tree that granted them immortality became the one thing on earth that could take it away by killing them permanently. Mikael and his family later burned down the white oak tree to prevent it ever being used against them, but not before Mikael had secretly carved a stake as insurance in case one was needed for future use. But, they soon learned with all this power came a terrible hunger, and none felt it more then Niklaus and Kol as shown in their life as vampires, with each having brought Mikael to their hiding places over the centuries, forcing the siblings to flee multiple times. Once Klaus had killed a human, Mikael and the rest of the family found out that he was actually a werewolf, born of an affair Esther had with a werewolf villager named Ansel. Upon seeing Klaus' first transformation as a true hybrid, Mikael stated, "He's a beast. An abomination!" Mikael realized that his wife was unfaithful to him and that Niklaus wasn't his son, and in his anger, he convinced Esther to cast a spell to keep Klaus's werewolf side dormant. While Esther prepared the spell, Mikael tied Klaus up in chains, demanding that Elijah help him when he stood nearby and looked guilty. Despite Klaus' pleas for Elijah to help him, he ended up listening to his father and helping Mikael chain Klaus to a post. Mikael later went out into the village to hunt down and kill Ansel, Klaus' father, as well as his entire family, not realizing that he was igniting an inter-species war that rages on even in the present day. Klaus was furious with his mother for making his werewolf side dormant and seemed to murder her in revenge, putting the blame on Mikael. Klaus convinced his siblings that Mikael had murdered their mother, probably out of anger for her infidelity, and they all ran from their father, fleeing back to the Old World. Mikael knew the truth of Esther's murder and his hate for Klaus only grew more intense, vowing to kill him for destroying his family. Hunting Down His Own Family Over the next centuries, Mikael burned down half of Europe in his hunt for Klaus. Shortly after being turned, Elijah compelled Lucien Castle to believe he was Klaus, Tristan de Martel to believe he was Elijah, and Aurora de Martel to believe she was Rebekah, so that Mikael would hunt them in his children's place as a misdirection. This tactic worked until Elijah was daggered with his siblings by the Brotherhood of the Five in 1114, negating the compulsion. Mikael still hunted the three until he realized he was hunting imposters. Mikael moved on to his true target, Klaus, after a century of hunting the Trinity, who were using his children's identities. In the 1200s, after Elijah had formed a society of vampires called the Strix, Mikael tracked them down and descended upon them with a small army of his own. He lay waste to The Strix while Elijah fled to protect his siblings, leaving the remnants of his vampire society to fend for themselves against Mikael. In 1702, Mikael tracked his family down to Spain due to Kol's destructive antics. He killed Klaus's horse, Theo, putting its head on a pike before he burnt down the town in his hunt for his "bastard" step-son. His children managed to escape on a ship headed back to the New World, alluding Mikael for several more centuries. In 1919, six months after Rebekah and Marcel used Genevieve to summon him, Mikael appeared in the streets of New Orleans. Mikael later appeared at Rousseau's, where he watched Marcel and Rebekah. Shortly after Rebekah left him at the bar, Marcel went for a drink, and Mikael, approached him. He talked of how lucky Marcel was and remarked that his girlfriend (Rebekah) looked like his wife. Mikael then revealed his true identity and admitted that he had been observing Marcel before informing him that he knew he would do anything to get out from under Klaus' wing, even if it meant calling the one man on earth who hates Klaus the most, Mikael the Destroyer. Mikael also admitted that he had burned countless other cities like New Orleans while hunting his children. Mikael promised Marcel that he would leave Rebekah unharmed, as she was always his favorite, but he wanted his sons' exact location so he could kill Klaus. Later, Mikael went to see Elijah, and insisted that he just wanted to talk to him. Elijah was shocked and angry upon Mikael's return, and he reminded his father that he hunted him and his siblings for centuries, going so far as to burn half of Europe in his attempts to kill his family. Mikael corrected him by pointing out that he only ever hunted Klaus, and had no interest in killing his own children. He goes on to say that he was requesting Elijah's aid, though the meeting quickly became violent once Elijah refused him. Elijah replied that his father was a fool if he thought Elijah would betray his brother for anyone, even for his father. Mikael then reminded him of how his mother's affair led to Klaus' existence and Mikael's secret shame. He added, "Niklaus is an abomination. You do not talk to abominations. You do not reason with them, or try to change them. You ERASE THEM!" Mikael then shows him the white oak stake, which caused Elijah to start to fight him in order to stop him. However, Mikael quickly overpowered Elijah and stated that he either stands with his father or falls with Klaus. Once Elijah insisted that he was standing with his brother, Mikael stake him with a regular stake, leaving him incapacitated while Mikael left to go to the New Orleans Opera House. Walking into the theater, Mikael seated himself behind Klaus and pointed the white oak stake at his back, right next to his heart, while Klaus sat, clearly horrified. Mikael mocked Klaus when he referred to Mikael as "Father," and told him that his werewolf father would be embarrassed to have him as a son, just like he was before he knew the truth about his parentage. Mikael then revealed that he intended to humiliate Klaus before he killed him, and stated that he planned on killing everyone who knew Klaus existed, to ensure that no one would miss him after he was dead. Mikael then had the stage-hands open the curtains to the stage, revealing that he had killed Klaus' werewolf lover, Lana, as well as many of his friends, in addition to tying up Marcel next to them in a grotesque display. All the while, the audience was laughing hysterically, as Mikael had compelled them all to view the show as a comedy. Terrified, Klaus quickly rushed to the stage to help free Marcel, only to be stopped by Mikael, who threw him across the stage. Rebekah suddenly arrived and intervened, trying to free Marcel as well, but Mikael staked her with a regular stake and incapacitated her. Elijah, who had just recovered from his own staking, showed up just in time to help his siblings free, and he insisted that Marcel was as good as dead, as Mikael was feeding on him to replenish his strength. Mikael ultimately burned down the opera house. Mikael hunted his children down to the streets of the French Quarter, he shouted at them that they needed to finish the last act of Le Grand Guignol, which he referred to as their "tale of sorrows." He insisted that their constant fleeing was pointless, as he would always find them no matter what, but the children ended up able to run after all because Elijah stayed behind to lead Mikael away from them while they fled to safety. Mikael went on to burn down much of the city of New Orleans and slaughtered more vampires, leaving Marcel as one of the few survivors of his wrath. In 1922, Mikael had tracked Rebekah and Niklaus to Chicago, where they were regular customers at Gloria's Bar. As it was Prohibition at the time, Mikael infiltrated the Chicago police force and became the Police Chief, using the fact that Gloria was running a speakeasy as an excuse to send the police officers to shoot up the bar with wooden bullets in search of his children. However, when Mikael finally arrived in the aftermath of the gunfight, Klaus and Rebekah had already vanished. Mikael questioned many of the bar's patrons, including Stefan Salvatore, but since Stefan was compelled to forget that he ever knew Klaus and Rebekah, he was unable to be of any help to him. Mikael realized that Klaus had compelled away Stefan's memories and informed the officers that they were done there, and began his search anew to find where his children had fled next. In 1990, Mikael arrived on Mystic Falls, which had been his home nearly a thousand years prior, in search of the third and final Petrova doppelgänger, Elena Gilbert, who was just a baby at the time. He knew that Klaus would eventually learn of the existence of the newest human doppelgänger and intended to kill her before she could be used by Klaus to break his Hybrid Curse. Despite the Founder's Council's best efforts to kill Mikael, they were unsuccessful, and Abby Bennett Wilson, Elena's mother Miranda's best friend, decided to use her powers as a witch to neutralize Mikael by tapping into dark magic to desiccate him. She lured him out of town to Charlotte, North Carolina, and once he was incapacitated, she entombed him in a cemetery there, where he laid dormant for nearly twenty years. However, tales of Mikael, the vampire who hunts vampires, were still told by many throughout the centuries, and Katherine Pierce even mentioned that she had heard stories of him from her best friend Pearl in the 1800s, which was why she was ultimately the person who tracked him down and released him with the intention of killing Klaus for good. Powers and Abilities Even before becoming an Original, Mikael was already an exceptional fighter, worthy of being one of the strongest Viking warriors. Accomplished with weapons such as swords and bows as well as hand-to-hand combat, Mikael taught his children how to fight and could easily outfight them repeatedly. He could single-handedly slaughter the other raiders who came to his village. After becoming an Original, Mikael was most likely the most physically powerful creature in the whole series, far surpassing even his children, including Klaus, as well as stronger than Alaric and even Marcel, displaying the ability to perform feats that even they cannot do and overpower his children, including even Klaus, with ease, in addition to also being likely the most skilled fighter in the series. Mikael has overpowered three of his children in a fight, while facing all three simultaneously, a feat no other being has ever managed to accomplish. In a flashback to Le Grand Guignol, when Mikael arrived in New Orleans in 1919, he easily threw Elijah and Klaus across large distances with no effort while Klaus was still under the Hybrid Curse, and it took all of Elijah's strength to stop Mikael from staking him with the White Oak Stake, with Mikael not showing strain. Elijah told Klaus as they fled that they together could not fight him, as he was to strong, a testament to his strength over his Original Vampire children. While having only fed on some blood from Davina, Mikael retained more than enough power to easily slaughter dozens of enhanced wolves and overpower Elijah without much effort. Mikael proved to be both much faster and stronger as well as durable, able to easily withstand a punch from Elijah and quickly send him flying with a backhand and would have killed him had he not been stopped by Davina, despite having sustained several Wolf bites. Mikael's physical prowess in this weakened state was even superior to even Klaus', the Original Hybrid, as although Klaus did put up a reasonable fight, Mikael was ultimately proven to be superior, as he was able to easily react to and counter and attack Klaus before ultimately pinning him down. Another notable skill for Mikael is his intense tolerance for pain, being able to practically ignore the effects of the werewolf venom, and even overcome the effects of Papa Tunde's Blade. A day later after this event and still weakened by the blade and only partially restored by human blood, Mikael was still able to fight Klaus and was still physically powerful as he was successfully pushing the white oak stake closer to Klaus' heart before the latter used Mikael's momentum against him and forced him into a pillar and then into a wall. While it is unknown how Mikael would fare if Klaus was to draw upon more power if he was enraged or if he was in werewolf form, Mikael's feats, discipline and sheer skill would seem to favor him in both cases though no conclusion could be accurately given unless demonstrated. As said above Mikael has over-powered Klaus while still weakened with werewolf venom, and Klaus was far from calm in said fight and should Klaus ever become enraged or transform completely into his Werewolf form, Mikael still has superior fighting skills and a tolerance for werewolf venom, making a werewolf's primary attack, its bite, useless. Mikael was able to stake Klaus with the White Oak Stake after a vicious battle (it should be noted that the latter was forced to let his guard down, when Mikael threw Papa Tunde's Blade at Camille, Klaus had to save his friend's life); however, Davina and Kol temporarily drained the stake of it's power, allowing Klaus to recover once pulled out before it was reactivated. Mikael was able to do this despite still recovering from werewolf venom, and being weak and recovering from Papa Tunde's Blade, demonstrating his power and skill over Klaus even while weakened, though it was shown that with the combined effects of the Blade and the venom, Klaus was able to fight on a slightly more even level to Mikael. Neither Klaus or Elijah could overcome the pain and paralysis of Tunde's blade, much less pull the blade out of themselves as Mikael did. Mikael again demonstrated superior willpower and determination when he was able to still use his powers to wound Dahlia while being desiccated by her, whereas Klaus couldn't and had to be fed blood by Elijah before he could resume his attack on her.